September 21, 2016

SO. I'm on a quest to make some freezer meals and have them ready for the weekdays, in the hopes of having dinner every night. I know, I know... Lofty goals. And yet, here we go!

I found a few recipes on this website that I thought sounded good for my family, and I tried the Chicken Cordon Bleu recipe. Here are my thoughts:

*We like it! I made it with just three chicken breasts because, you know, three of us live here. The chicken breasts were really thick and I think next time I make it, I will use either smaller chicken breasts, or slice them in half. The thickness was a factor in the cooking time.

*Also, that's a LOT of "gravy". I didn't love it, and felt like it made the whole mixture sloppy. Tessa, on the other hand, like that best. So, uh, whatever. Do what feels good, people.

*Terry loved the bread stuffing on top, thinking it gave a little extra texture to the dish. I was not a fan of the stuffing. Also, when I read the instructions, I decided to not put the stuffing mixture on the top of the dish until halfway through the baking time, so it wouldn't burn, and that worked well.

*It sounds like I didn't like it, but I really did! The taste was awesome; I just felt like it could be a little better! But in all, we will make this again.

This time, I cooked it right after I made it, and didn't freeze it. But I think that it will be an easy freezer meal, but I wouldn't cook it right out of the freezer. I would pull it out in the morning, and thaw it first, and then bake it. Just my opinion. It also made for great leftovers the next day. Gotta love that!!

September 19, 2016

August came and went, becoming just a big blur for me. We had several visitors, and it was so great to see each of them.

First, we started with a sleepover for Tess and friends. This summer, like every summer, was so hectic, with lots of travel and obligations, that we hadn't done one fun thing for the bunch yet! So we decided to have a big, blow out slumber party. It was perfect weather to set up the tent, and have an outside movie watching session.

These girls are pretty low maintenance. I don't have to say much about behavior, and that's so nice. For instances, we had a little instance with a skunk..... Yes, I said skunk. So when the girls went to bed in the tent, I told them to stay in the tent! I didn't want them running around the neighborhood in the wee morning hours, so I reiterated that once again. Later as the night went on, we left our bedroom window open and I could hear them laughing and talking, clear up until 3:30, when I fell asleep. They say they didn't go to bed until 4:30.... My old soul can't even imagine it! Well anyway, around 2:00 a.m., I could smell skunk spray, not too strong, but it was out there. I thought any minute now, they would come in to get away from the smell. But no! They just stayed in the tent, laughing and talking. In the morning, I asked them about the smell, and they said that they heard the skunk and it was close to the tent! They were so nervous about it! I asked why they didn't come into the house, and they replied, you told us to stay in the tent!! I love those girls. And next time, just come in the house.

And then this little cutie came to see me! Aly made the trip to the mainland from Hawaii, with the Scouter to spend some time with family. We were the first stop, and we made the most of it! We had lots of playing, swimming, and visiting. Aly has a lot of friends in M-town, and she spent some time with them, sans kids, so I got to have nights with Scout. She is a funny little squirt, with definite likes and dislikes. Right now, her favorite movie is Lilo & Stitch. We watched it every night. I rediscovered that I love the soundtrack to that movie. I need to find it again.

Diva. Such a beauty. We had a fun week with Aly and Scout! I'm also so grateful that Aly likes to come to our house, even without Tyson. Since his leave is limited, we wouldn't see them much without her coming on her own. Love you Aly and Scout!

Zoey and Reece felt the pull of the Grant County Fair, and made their way up to see us and spend time eating some quality fair food. It was really fun to have them here! They were in between jobs, school and moves, so they were pretty leisure about when they were coming, and when they were leaving. The fair was on the downside this year, not many exhibits, not many people there, but the food was awesome, as always, and we had a good time out there. Reece and Tessa get along really well and so they spent time watching the hypnotist show, and the juggler, and just having fun. They are a pair. Zoey loves puzzles, just like her mama, so we did two of them! It was so nice to see them before they get really busy again.

And lastly, before the summer came to a close, we got to have this little bug come to visit. Lilly and Breck had a couple weeks off from school and they used the most of it. They first visited Breck's sister, who lives in southern California, and then made their way up the coast, ending at our house. I love to have Little Miss here! She is such a character, and a great mimic! She will say whatever you ask her too and remembers everything! So be careful what you say and do, or she will be doing it also! Their little family was here for a couple of days and it was great to just visit and spend some time with them.

We miss our family, that is for sure! But we are also grateful that they are all progressing and growing, wherever they may be!

September 16, 2016

Does anyone else struggle with dinner like I do? Every day, it's just me dragging my feet on what to make. I used to have a great meal planning tool when I had all the kids at home, but I find it isn't as effective with just the three of us. And then I have the picky one. And then I have Terry that sprung it on me lately that he doesn't really like chicken. Um, what. When did this happen?!? Here I've been making chicken meals for years and he doesn't ever tell me that he doesn't really like it?!? Well, that's just fun..... :/

So my weekend quest is to come up with some good freezer meals to make so I can just pull out whatever and here comes dinner! I've actually been pinning frozen dinner meals for about a month, but the problem is, I'm going to say at least 3/4 of them are chicken. So that's not good.

Here's where you come in. If you have a good meal, freezer or not, using something other than chicken, give me the link, friend!! I need some help coming up with something new for my picky's.

(Yes, I know that picky's isn't the correct use of the apostrophe, but really, grammar police, get over yourselves. It's my blog and I can do what I want.)

As part of my inspiration to actually get started on some freezer meals, chicken or not, I'm going to hook you up with one of my favorite blogs of all time, talking about freezer meals: Marci Combs is such a fun blog to read! Go there!

September 14, 2016

Today is my day to just let my mind wander about life and see what comes out. These are the easiest blog posts to do for sure, because I literally don't care how it reads, or what it sounds like. I'm not trying to get a point across, I'm just writing.

::People, it's fall. And you know what comes with fall? Candy corn! I love candy corn so much! And as much as I love candy corn, I love those little pumpkins candies even more. Now please, there is nothing you can say to sway how I feel about those little pumpkin candies, and candy corn. I've been eating, and loving, those candies since I was a little girl sitting on my daddy's knee. And he has been trying to dissuade me from eating that candy all that time. If he hasn't succeeded, neither are you. I just love, love, love them.

::.... and pumpkin. I love pumpkin.

::The DVR in our bedroom died. It was a terrible death, and took with it several seasons of shows that I was somehow going to get around to watching. I was devastated to hear that I won't be watching the last season of Downton Abbey, or the last few episodes of Dr. Ken. I also had a whole season of Lip Sync Battle going, all gone. :( The worst part is that now I have to watch regular TV in here, with commercials! People, I'm suffering! It is the worst to watch TV with commercials. But never fear, the new DVR is on it's way, and then, then I will have back my non-commercial TV and no one will ever take that away from me. (Sarcasm intended.)

::Maybe the no DVR in our room was meant to be. We so hate to watch TV without commercials that we rarely actually watch in our room now. How crazy is that? Terry has been reading a book of John Steinbeck, and I have been trying to get back in the habit of writing in my journal every night. It has been a nice change.

::When we started having kids, my thoughts never really went to what it would mean to me when they moved away as adults. Right now, we have kids in Hawaii, Houston, Provo, Evanston, and Twin Falls. Everyone far away. I guess it never occurred to me that they would all live that far, so that it would take a major trip to go see them. I'm not loving it, that is for sure.

::At least I still have Tessa. Maybe she will live close by me. (sniff, sniff)

::Last year at this time, the weather was still so mild, and this year, cold already!! Last year, we were still sleeping with the window open, and a light weight blanket. This year, we either have to shut the window or go to the heavy blanket, because I am waking up huddled in a ball, I'm so cold. And that is not a good thing, because lately, if I tuck my chin into my chest, I snore like a bugger. I snore so badly that I wake myself up! THAT'S not good. So I need warmth. That's all I'm saying.

::I haven't been doing any crafting lately. In fact, my craft room is still a disaster and it's depressing me so badly, that I have no motivation to get in there and clean it. :/ The problem is that I really need to get in there and do some sewing because, people, the black friday JoAnn's sale is coming, and if I don't get rid of some of this fabric, I can't go buy more! I literally don't have any room for more in my house, and my OCD does not allow me to have stuff just lying around anymore. Those days are long gone. Which is the whole reason why I don't want to go into my craft room. So much stuff just lying around. Ugh.

::People. Someone parked in front of my house again yesterday. I literally can't handle it, and all I want to do is say, can you not go park over there where you are not parking in front of someone's house? It is such a petty thing from me, and yet....... I can't stand it. Brother.... (Rolling of eyes)

::I miss my emoji keyboard when I just have my regular keyboard to show emoji's with. It's just not as fun. I do love me some emojis.

::For the first time in forever, I have no plans to travel anywhere any time soon. It's a little weird.

::Terry and I have been looking at new cars. It is time to down size a little bit, and so we've been looking at what's out there. Have no fear though, we are talking about Terry here, so we won't be buying anything until sometime in the spring.... That is his normal M.O. He has to research something to death before he'll actually finally buy it. He talks himself into and out of stuff with regular frequency, so unless I pitch a fit like no other, I'll just have to wait to see what we actually buy, and if it's anything close to what I wanted. It's just such a fun game we play...... (again, rolling eyes)

::But I do love the guy. I could not do this life without him. Absolutely could not.

::Well, I'm on Harry Potter 6 in my running world. I miss the early books that had a lot of humor in them as well as the thrilling stuff. These are always just so..... intense. I hope I can make it all the way through book 7!

::I do have some thoughts about Harry Potter books, but I'll save that for another day. It will probably have to be a whole coherent post though, not like this one.

::I have been getting rid of all the kids junk in my house. Every time we go see them, I take something else to their house that is theirs. They think I like it, but really it makes me a little melancholy. Don't get me wrong, I love the order that comes with having less stuff in my house, but it also makes me a little sad that the part of my life where I was saving their clothes, and their school work, and their other memories, is over. They have now moved on to doing that for themselves, and for some, their own kids. Time marches on.

::And I miss my mom.

::I'm excited to go see the Nunsense play that we have a couple of friends in!! I'm excited to see them perform, and I'm also excited to go see something in the Civic Auditorium here in M-town! I have only been there for piano adjudications, so this will be a new experience. We will be there!

September 13, 2016

With heavy heart, I tell everyone that Terry and I are getting older. Yes, it's true. And with those added years have come a few too many pounds. So we decided that we needed to make a change in our eating. We've tried this a few times, but the problem we always come back to is first, we have Tess in the house, who is quite possibly the worst eater ever. I mean, someone that can, quite literally, eat the same thing for lunch every day for going on 7 years, you know will have a problem with new foods. Secondly, we are inherently lazy about making food. We just don't want to spend a lot of time each day putting together a clean meal.

And then I found something on Pinterest that I was totally blown away by! A refrigerator salad bar! It was like the light bulb came on. I wish I had saved the original link but I must have just looked at it and not pinned it, because it isn't on my boards. Oops! Well, random person out there that came up with this idea originally, I love it. And I thank you for the bottom of my heart. You are the best.

So basically, the idea is that you would have at the ready all the items that you would put into a salad all ready to go, so you can just throw it together and eat. I've done that in the past, but the problem I ran into was spending the time to do it, cutting up way too much so that it spoils before we use it, and our biggest problem was that the lettuce would go bad before we used it all. So this lady had this great idea to only cut up one weeks worth of stuff, and put it all in one basket.

This is my salad bar. Everything that is meant for your salad is in that blue basket. When we are ready to eat, we just pull it out, and away we go!

Things that we use a lot of get a bigger container, such as diced ham, tomatoes, strawberries, blueberries. Things we don't use much of are in small containers, such as olives, cukes, peppers, beans. Peppers give me heart burn, so I don't eat them, and Terry hates beans so he doesn't eat those, but with just small containers, we can still have them in the basket without the fear of them going to waste before they are eaten. There are six large and six small containers.

Now, for sure it takes up a lot of room in the refrigerator. But it is so much easier to just pull that one basket out, then to try and juggle all the containers, or forget that you have something else to use, that it is worth giving up that one shelf. It also contains the spread of leftovers on the bottom shelf, so we think about and use them more effectively also.

I also found this great tip for lettuce:

These are half gallon mason jars. The blog I read said just cut your lettuce up, than put it in a jar and seal it and then turn it upside down and it will keep the lettuce fresher longer! This lettuce is 10 days old since the day I cut it, and it had been in my fridge for awhile before that. There is also spinach in there. Spinach does not stay fresh long, but we are having great success with this! One jar of lettuce lasts us for about 4-5 days.

Sadly, this has not inspired Tess to eat anything other than her nasty Nutella and peanut butter sandwiches.... You can only do what you can do. ;)

September 12, 2016

This morning, Tessa asked me "Do you remember the Twin Towers?" Of course, I do, so I told her all about what I was doing that morning, and how I felt, and the paralysis I felt throughout the day. It started me thinking...

I was working doing my magazine job. I used to place magazines in different stores; Walmart, K-mart, and the Safeway in Ephrata (but not the one in Moses Lake... go figure). That day, I was driving to Ephrata at 6:00 a.m to do my job, and there was a something on the radio about an accident involving a plane in New York, but I didn't really hear what they were saying because I was going through a dead spot, and when I got out of it, the radio station was back to music. When I got to the store, I went straight back to the back storage room to get my magazines, but when I came out to the front to start changing out the magazines, I noticed that all the cashiers were huddled around a screen in the movie rental spot. They all looked shocked, and had their mouths covered. I looked up, and saw a replay of the second airplane flying into the second tower. And as I was watching, the towers fell.

The gasp in the store was audible, and all as one, we covered our hearts, our mouths, our eyes, as we knew.... we knew that the loss of life would be great, and that this..... act of cowardice, because that is what I think it is..... would change the world as we know it.

I talked to Tessa about how I called Terry immediately and told him to turn on the TV. At the time, he worked from a home office and the TV was only on if I was home. But as he turned it on, he asked me, what is going on.... what is going on.... I just remember thinking that as he was asking me, what IS going on? How could this be happening? How does someone take the lives of so many innocent people? And the hits kept coming as we heard about the flight that flew into the pentagon, and Flight 93, that the passengers fought back on, and saved some other target from being hit.

Tess and I talked about how hard it was for me to finish my job, to keep moving throughout the day. We talked about how I was glued to the screen, watching over and over, the planes hitting the building, the buildings falling, the devastation below, the terrifying realization that no one could survive from this act. As the weeks moved on, I collected magazines about 9-11 like they were playing cards. I had a whole stack of them. My obsession with it was becoming maudlin, and finally Terry made me stop. It was causing me to implode on myself with depression and anxiety. This was before my anxiety was full blown also, so this was a new feeling for me. I felt hopeless, and despondent that there was any reason to move forward in this life. What was I going to tell my kids, who all had a full life ahead of them, about how to have hope, when I had none myself?

After Terry staged his intervention, good man that he is, I started immersing myself in the good things of life. Family. Friends. And especially church. I immersed myself in conference talks about hope and love. I could hardly wait for General Conference, to hear what our beloved prophet and apostles would say. The time could not come fast enough for me, and for the first time in my life, I literally hung on every word that was spoken in that weekend. Every talk was like scripture to me, and I was listening as intently as I could. And even as that is, I don't remember what was said. I just know, I came away feeling loved, and hopeful. I came away feeling like God was in charge, and I just had to stay the course and all will be well.

And it has been. For me.

Now, as we recognize this 15th year anniversary, of this cowardly act, I think about the protests of NFL players, and other athletes towards the National Anthem, and the flag of the United States of America. I've listened to their justifications, of their complaints, and I feel like they have valid points. Our country is full of hate. What I don't understand is how this helps in any way? They say they've started a dialog. Okay, but haven't we been talking about this for awhile now, since Ferguson exploded, and the riots happened in Baltimore? Haven't there been report after report of racial profiling, and people of different backgrounds being targeted for acts of violence? The dialog is already started. The protest of not standing to honor our nation, who by the way gives the right to not stand as a protest, doesn't make sense to me. If you are looking for change, then start doing something that invites change. Not honoring the nation that gives you the right to expect change, isn't bringing about change. Go out and do something that isn't about bringing the spotlight on you. You sit on the bench instead of standing, and then when you walk off the field, what are you doing? Do you go back to your home and stew about the injustices you see? Are you out in your community, talking to underprivileged youth? Do you talk with your police, firefighters, and other first responders, trying to see their view and get them to see yours? Do you hold community events to try and bring both sides together, to try and find a common ground to build a bridge on?

What are you doing?

What are we doing?

It has given me something to think about. What am I doing?

If you are reading this, all two of you, I urge you to think about what can you do to build a bridge, instead of just talking about it. Let's not sit and call that good. Let's do something hopeful, something involving love, to all those those that feel helpless and hopeless in this world filled with hate.

April 22, 2016

Last night, we had a belated FHE and our family went to go see the movie Jungle Book. Now let me say this, I LOVE the Disney cartoon vision of Jungle Book. I loved it as a child, and loved it even more when Tyson, as a child, was the very embodiment of Mowgli. SO-- the bar was set pretty high.

I've been watching the promotional interviews for this movie in the last few weeks. They worked in that I got more and more excited to watch it! The trailers were awesome, giving just enough of a glimpse into this movie, that I was intrigued to see if they really could meld the old with the new.

With that being said, they did a great job! I LOVED this movie. Love, love, love. Seriously. I cannot say it enough. I loved that they included some of the old songs, to the fun casting of voices for each character. When I was an interview with the boy who plays Mowgli, he said that he spent most of his time filming with a green screen, so he was truly making up all of the scenery, what the other characters were doing, and their lines, in his head! What?! This little guy is a great actor.

There are some differences from the cartoon movie. At first, I was like, um, that's not how the movie goes.... this should happen first...... I was really sad that they didn't use one of my favorite songs from the old movie, "We Are Friends" sang by the vultures, but then, I just started to let go of the old movie, and just enjoy the new. It worked, and I just enjoyed the new movie.

Go see it! It is well worth the price of the ticket! It has a couple of intense scenes, and there are times when things pop out at you, so you might want to think about whether or not your youngest children should go to see this. I probably wouldn't take anyone that can't take an intense scene.

Now I'm nostalgic for the cartoon Mowgli, and the little Mowgli I had in my life.

Just for your enjoyment, and for mine too, a little Jungle Book through back:

April 21, 2016

The media told us that we lost a music icon today. Prince died at the age of 57, much too young.

Sidebar: I will say that 57 is too young because I am creeping up on that age, and Terry is older than that. And I like to think of us still as on the younger side. ;) End Sidebar.

Death is such a fickle thing, isn't it? Some days we pray for death, and other days we curse it. When my grandmother was almost 101 years old, we prayed for her death and were disappointed when it didn't happen for her! When my sister died at the young age of 48, we prayed for understanding and comfort, and to know why. Why some people and not others?

Our family is a little macabre, in that when one celebrity dies, we always wait to hear who are the other two that have died. We believe that death comes in threes, so if you are a celebrity and one dies, you better duck your head, because it may be coming after you! I know, silliness.

I am coming up on the year mark of my dear Ruthie's death. I cannot believe that it has been a year. I still miss her, and hope she is happy.

Which got me thinking.....

Today, in my scripture reading, I read about Nephi's vision of the tree of life. Now, bear with me here. I was pondering about Satan and his forces, those in the spacious building that mock and desecrate the gospel of Jesus Christ. I was pondering how we need to know and understand how powerful Satan is, so that we don't take for granted what we need to do to combat his constant temptations against us. My thoughts then ran to how when we die, we take with us all the knowledge we have, but that then we gain all the knowledge we HAD before we passed through the veil and forgot our former life. And then, I was thinking that after we remember, how can it be that we wouldn't want to be baptized and have those ordinances done so that we can live with Heavenly Father again! How can that be?! Yet, I know that we keep our same personalities when we die, and so I know there are those that are cantankerous and unwilling.

I'll admit, it's random. That's just how my brain runs.

And so when a baby dies, or someone is taken in the prime of their life, or just too soon, I always feel a little sad about it, and yet, can you imagine how it must feel to know that your life trial is done, and you have done what you could do. Hopefully. I think that will be a glorious day, and I hope that I feel satisfaction how my earthly trial was conducted.

April 20, 2016

It was hot today, eighty-eight degrees, so the window is open. I can hear the sprinklers in the field behind our house, and the crack of the bats at the baseball field, and the whir of the fan overhead. I love quiet.

The dishwasher is humming contentedly, as it cleans our dishes for me. I'm grateful for that machine, as well as the washing machine and dryer, for just doing their job, day in and day out, no matter how much I ask of them. That doesn't happen much, does it? People just doing what you ask, no matter what it is, or what else you have asked of them. So, I'm grateful for whoever, or whatever, does that for me.

Soon it will be time for the ice cream truck to come around, and the band will be practicing for their parade marching. I love to hear those sounds, but I'm equally glad when they are gone, and our street is quiet again.

Sometimes, the neighbors will start up their truck, or their motorcycles, and it will cause a great disturbance in the quiet. It grates on me until they finally drive away and the solitude is restored.

One part of the quiet I like is when it is just dusk outside, and so not completely dark, but just dark enough to need a lamp on. I have a small reading lamp on my desk, and when I turn it on, and there is just a small circle of light to accompany my writing, it calms my soul, and I feel peace.

Peace is something that is hard to come by these days. So many contentious factors in the world! Politics, religion, societal values; they all cause my peace and calm to hide, and it takes me lots of time to coax them back out again.

And so I value these sort of nights, where the quiet reigns, and the peace envelopes me. I'll store this memory, so when I need a spot to hide from the cares of the world, I have a place to be.

February 22, 2016

I will freely admit, that I will always go to a Christian movie just to support a Christian cause. We went to God's Not Dead. We went to Heaven Is Real. We went to War Room. We go to Christian movies to support those that are trying to spread good values. This is what we do.

That being said, I wasn't too excited to go to Risen. I'm always skeptical of movies about Jesus Christ and what they will portray of Him. So often, they make it look like He was a good person, and may even be a God, but that His gospel is somehow lacking, and not realistic to live in today's society. Hmmm.

Risen is the story of Clavius, a well respected Roman tribune, that takes his orders from Pilate. The story starts at the crucifixion of Christ, where Clavius starts to hear the story of this remarkable man, that people are claiming is the King of the Jews. He is told to go make sure Jesus is dead on the cross, and as he does so, he sees the utter devotion and love Jesus' followers have for Him. Clavius takes pity on the devotees, and gives them the body of Jesus to bury in a tomb of one who loved Him. The story then follows the story we all know, the tomb is sealed, but the bonds are broken. Jesus' body disappears, His followers say He is risen, His enemies say it is a lie, His body is searched for to prove that He is not alive. At this point, in the movie, Pilate sends Clavius to question all of Jesus' disciples, and apostles, to see if he can find Jesus' body. As he hears all the accounts of the believers, he starts to question his own beliefs. Short story, he ends up seeing Jesus for himself, and then really has to reconcile what he thinks is truth, and what he is seeing with his own eyes.

There's a lot more, but I'll let you be surprised. ;)

And now what did we think of the movie? I will say that both Terry and I came out of there liking the movie! There were something's that I was uncomfortable with but over all, I felt like the portrayal of the Christ was in keeping with what I think of Christ. The thing that both Terry and I came out thinking about was how they portrayed Christ as a very happy person! As He talked to His apostles, after the resurrection, He is happy, and smiling, and laughing. And the apostles are happy, and smiling, and laughing. They love this man, and they are so happy to see Him. I found this depiction refreshing. In my own thinking, I'm sure they were all happy! How could they not be! And when Christ has to leave them again, you can see their sorrow. I appreciated that so much.

I also loved the character of Clavius. You could see his struggle, and I feel that it is the same struggle people have today, about whether or not there could possibly be a God that can make a difference in our lives. (There is. Ask me and I will tell you all about Him. :) ) And here's a little funny thing-- Clavius gets an apprentice while he is trying to find Jesus' body. When the apprentice comes on the screen, Terry says to me, "Isn't that the bad kid on Harry Potter?" And I was like, "It doesn't look like him....." And then to all the chagrin of everyone around me, I whipped out my phone and IMBD-ed it, and yep! It was Tom Felton, none other than Draco Malfoy!! I didn't even recognize him! He has a much rounder face now.

Okay, so here's the skivvy though. I wouldn't probably pay $10 for a ticket to go see this movie. I know, I know. We need to support the cause! But I'm also a bit of a movie ticket snob, so I would say definitely rent the video, see if this moves you, and then buy the movie when it becomes a $5 movie. That would be my recommendation.